Rats In The Kitchen

Project description

"Rats in the Kitchen" is a chaotic, 4-player co-op party game that innovates on the popular cooking genre by introducing a vertical dimension. Players control a pack of tiny rats in a giant, physics-based human kitchen. Their goal is to gather ingredients and cook dishes while avoiding detection.

Unlike traditional cooking games played on a flat 2D plane, our game utilizes the Z-axis. Players must traverse the environment using parkour mechanics—climbing shelves, swinging from utensils, and throwing ingredients across the room.

Context

The cooperative multiplayer market is currently experiencing a boom, driven by titles like Lethal Company and Overcooked. However, the genre has seen little mechanical innovation, with many titles simply cloning existing formulas.

"Rats in the Kitchen" addresses this gap by merging two distinct, successful genres: the popular cooking simulation and the vertical traversal of 3D platformers.

Our innovation lies in scale. By shrinking the player to the size of a rat, we transform everyday objects into complex platforming obstacles. This introduces a unique design challenge we are eager to tackle: implementing stable, networked physics for 4 players in a vertical environment.

Results

To date, we have successfully developed a playable prototype that validates our core technical thesis: that 4-player networked physics can be both stable and fun.

Some of our key achievements include:

• Core Loop Validation: Testing has confirmed that the combination of cooking and platforming creates the intended "emergent chaos" and social friction we aimed for.
• Technical De-risking: We have established a robust networking architecture capable of handling complex physics interactions without desynchronization.
• Industry Validation: We have pitched the concept to industry veterans from Guerrilla Games, Nixxes, and Poki, receiving positive feedback on the commercial viability and unique market positioning of the project.
• Our next milestone is developing the AI-driven Human Chef antagonist and polishing player movement for our public demo release.

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About the project group

We are Obol Studios, a 5-person development team dedicated to connecting people through shared, chaotic gaming experiences. With strengths in technical art, networked physics, and environmental storytelling, we are building the games we want to play: socially driven, highly replayable, and respectful of player time. We are currently transitioning from a student project into a commercial indie studio.

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